As a CERTIFIED Nutrition and Wellness Counselor, there are certain things I am prohibited from doing for clients.
Weight Management protocols have been presented to me that seem to be designed to protect the health and well being of clients who seek counseling from a Nutrition and Wellness Consultant.
I will be paraphrasing or directly quoting from "Weight Management: A Prominent Component of Health And Fitness." A "position paper" distributed by a school that offers Nutrition and Wellness courses.
1. I am prohibited from counseling people with eating disorders. If you give me reason to suspect that you have an eating disorder, I cannot accept you into counseling sessions unless I have a note from your physician giving me permission to counsel you. Anorexia, Bulimia, rapid weight gain from binge eating, etc... are conditions which need medical attention by a physician and/or someone who specializes in psychological disorders.
2. I am prohibited from counseling people who choose hypo-caloric temporary weight loss programs that are not part of a permanent weight management lifestyle. If weight management techniques fail to induce healthy lifestyle changes within 6 weeks after initiation, services will be discontinued.
3. I am prohibited from counseling people who choose rapid weight loss protocols above 5 pounds per month. Rapid weight loss has been implicated in the fast weight regian in the YO YO syndrome and is operant in many health-degenerative disorders in both the general overweight and morbidly obese population and is therefore prohibited.
4. I am prohibited from counseling people who choose to use chemicals such as stimulants, steroids, or diuretics.
5. I am prohibited from counseling people who choose a diet excessively high in protien which means thier protien intake is above 15% of the daily caloric requirement or outside the range of 0.8-1.7 grams per protein per kilogram of body weight.
6. I am prohibited from counseling people who choose a diet which features excess use of high-saturated fatty foods such as dairy, animal, or poultry products.
7. I am prohibited from counseling people who choose to use excess quantities of packaged foods at the expense of whole foods from produce origin.
8. Supervision of client progress in contradiction to a physician's or dietitian's directive are prohibited. In other words, I cannot advise you to do the opposite of what a physician or dietitian has told you to do.
9. If progress fails to occur within 12 weeks of initiation, or symptoms representing degenerative disorders appear, the client will be referred to a physician for weight loss management.
10. Failure to make safe, effective weight management lifestyle changes...After 3 strikes, or 3 each 3-week attempts at safe, effective, weight management lifestyle changes, the client will be referred to a physician before being accepted into a return fitness-oriented protocol.
11. I am prohibited from counseling people or proposing weight management plans to people who refuse to exercise 30 minutes per day. Balanced nutrition is always important but there are times when exercise is not recommended by a physicican such as The only time exercise when a client is recovering from surgery, or perhaps recently given birth. Other conditions may require a delay with reguards to exercise as outlined by your physician.
Although I am a Nutrition Counselor, who works with people in order to help them with weight management and nutritional status, I feel that it is important for me to educate potential clients regarding what services that I am NOT legally permitted to offer.
For this section, I will be quoting or paraphrasing from “Legal Guidelines For Unlicensed Practitioners” by Dr. Lawrence Wilson, a book that I highly recommend for anyone who wants to know more about unlicensed practitioners, which is probably available in book stores and online stores like Amazon.com.
“In the healthcare field, certain words have been assigned legal meaning in the state statutes.”
Therefore, I will not offer cures, diagnoses, prescriptions, treatments.
I will also not refer to any conditions as diseases.
Instead of the word diagnose,
I will use words like assess, measure, check, determine, or evaluate.
Instead of the word disease,
I will use words like condition, problem, deficiency, excess, or imbalance.
Instead of the word treat or cure,
I will use words like handle, work with, relieve, balance, normalize, ameliorate, correct, or remedy.
“Words like naturopath, nutritionist, [dietitian], and psychologist have legal meanings and may only be used by licensed people.”
For this reason, I will refer to myself as being a consultant, counselor, or coach.
I also will not be making claims or promises, as this is prohibited for unlicensed practitioners.
When I recommend a remedy for any particular problem, I will say things like “it should help”, “it has helped others”, “80% have been helped”, “it is the best remedy I know”, or “I am hoping it will help.”
I am legally prohibited from asking clients to undress for weighing or measuring or for any other reason for that matter, and I will not be touching clients, except to perhaps shake their hand upon meeting them of course.
The touching of clients requires a license, such as a Medical License, or Massage License, or Cosmetology License.
For this reason, I ask clients to measure themselves or to have a close friend or family member to do the measuring, in the privacy of their own homes. You will probably get more accurate measurements if you measure while nude or while wearing very tight clothing. I will be happy to provide a sheet showing you the points at which to measure.
I did at one time have a Cosmetology License and a Cosmetology Instructor’s License, but I no longer practice those professions.
Also, I am legally prohibited from drawing blood, giving injections, or puncturing the skin in any other manner.
